“I don’t think it would have mattered. I had the impression they had come for him specifically.”
She let that sink in for a few seconds, then pulled out her phone and made a call. As soon as it connected, she frowned and hung up. “An unavailable message again.”
“Paul?” Stone asked.
She nodded.
“You weren’t sent to voicemail?”
“No, thatiskind of odd, isn’t it?”
“Would you like me to try?”
“Would you mind?”
“Not at all.”
She brought up Paul’s number and showed it to Stone, who punched it into his desk phone.
The line rang twice, then clicked, and a man said, “Hello?”
Sara leaned forward to say something, but Stone held a finger to his lips to keep her from speaking.
“Paul Weston?”
“Yeah. Who’s this?”
“My name’s Stone Barrington. We met the other night at Liesel’s.”
Voice suddenly nervous, Weston said, “Hey, man. I did exactly what I was told. I haven’t talked to her since. You can back off, okay?”
“I think you have me confused with someone else. I was sitting next to you at the bar, and I’m the one who stopped the guys in the restroom from attacking you.”
“Oh, uh…okay. Thanks for that, I guess. How did you get my number?”
“Turns out I’m an acquaintance of Sara Hirschy, the woman you were supposed to meet. She’s been trying to get a hold of you, but she—”
“Tell her to leave me alone, all right? I don’t want anything to do with her.”
“Can I ask why?”
“Because, all right? Just because.”
Weston hung up before Stone could ask another question.
“That was rude,” Sara said. “What did I ever do to him?”
“Nothing, as far as I know.”
“I just wanted to know if he was okay.”
“In my opinion, you’ve dodged a bullet with Mr. Weston. I had a conversation with him before the incident, and let’s just say he seemed more interested in your money than you.”
She blew out a resigned breath. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“He implied that what happened to him had something to do with you. Is it possible someone you know would have wanted to hurt him?”
“Someone I know?” she asked, perplexed.
